Hohmann Transfer Orbit Simulator

Hohmann Transfer

Parking orbit

Start orbit radius 100

Target orbit radius 220

Time warp 1.0×

Maneuver

Δv burn 1

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Δv burn 2

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Total Δv

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Transfer time

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Speed

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Radius

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How it works

A Hohmann transfer moves a spacecraft between two circular orbits with the least propellant, using exactly two tangential (prograde/retrograde) burns. The first burn kicks the craft off its circular orbit onto an elliptical transfer path whose near point (periapsis) touches the start orbit and whose far point (apoapsis) touches the target orbit. The second burn, fired at that far point, circularizes the path onto the target orbit.

a_t = (r1 + r2) / 2
v_p = √(GM·(2/r1 − 1/a_t))     v_a = √(GM·(2/r2 − 1/a_t))
Δv1 = v_p − v_circ(r1)          Δv2 = v_circ(r2) − v_a
t_transfer = π · √(a_t³ / GM)

Start / target radius — the two circular orbits being connected; a bigger radius gap costs more Δv and takes longer to cross.
Burn 1 — an instantaneous prograde impulse applied while on the start orbit; it raises (or lowers) the far side of the orbit into an ellipse aimed at the target radius.
Burn 2 — fires automatically the instant the craft reaches the transfer ellipse's apoapsis/periapsis, matching its velocity to the target orbit's circular speed.
Between the two burns the craft is not steered — its path is pure two-body gravity, numerically integrated frame by frame, exactly like a real coasting spacecraft.

Real-world relevance: this two-burn technique is how every geostationary satellite, lunar transfer and interplanetary probe changes orbits — it is provably the minimum-fuel way to move between two circular, coplanar orbits.

Spacecraft Start orbit Target orbit Transfer ellipse